The League Two play-offs offer a chance for those who just missed out on automatic promotion, with four teams battling it out to see who can secure the prize of promotion to League One.
The regular 2023/24 League Two campaign has now come to an end, and while the promotion battle was wrapped some weeks ago, the play-off race went right down to the wire.
Football FanCast has taken a look at the details ahead of this year’s final between Crawley Town and Crewe Alexandra.
How the League Two play-offs work
It’s a very simple format, but unlike League One and the Championship, as League Two offers three teams the opportunity to secure automatic promotion, compared to two places in the leagues above.
The League Two play-offs will see four teams battle it out in two separate semi-finals. Those who finish in fourth position will play the team finishing in seventh, while the team finishing in fifth will play the team who finished sixth.
Both semi-finals will involve a home and away leg, with the team who is leading after the two legs advancing from both semi-finals to make up the two teams in the final.
The team who finished lower will be at home for the first leg, whilst the team who finished higher will be at home for the deciding return leg.
Should both teams be level on aggregate after 180 minutes of football, the match will be settled via extra time and possibly even penalties if the score is still level following an additional 30 minutes.
The final is set at Wembley Stadium, with the winner securing the League Two play-off trophy and promotion to League One. Extra time and penalties are required if both teams are tied at the end of normal time, with the losing team spending another season in League Two.
Final League Two standings
Only fourth to seventh position make it into the League Two play-offs, with first, second and third going up automatically to League One at the end of the regular season.
Stockport County, Wrexham and Mansfield Town all secured automatic promotion to League One, which just leaves the remaining teams below to battle it out for the play-off places.
1st
Stockport
46
27
11
8
+48
92
2nd
Wrexham
46
26
10
10
+37
88
3rd
Mansfield
46
24
14
8
+43
86
4th
MK Dons
46
23
9
14
+15
78
5th
Doncaster
46
21
8
17
+5
71
6th
Crewe
46
19
14
13
+4
71
7th
Crawley
46
21
7
18
+6
70
8th
Barrow
46
18
15
13
+6
69
9th
Bradford
46
19
12
15
+2
69
10th
AFC Wimbledon
46
17
14
15
+13
65
2024 League Two play-off dates
The 2024 League Two play-offs will be held in May 2024, with the first legs on 6th May.
The semi-final dates have now officially been announced by the EFL, but are still subject to confirmation.
Monday 6th May
Crewe 0-2 Doncaster
5.30pm
Tuesday 7th May
Crawley 3-0 MK Dons
7.30pm
Friday 10th May
Doncaster 0-2 Crewe
8pm
Saturday 11th May
MK Dons 1-5 Crawley
7.45pm
It has been announced that the 2023/24 League Two play-off final will take place on Sunday 19th May with a kick-off time of 1pm, which precedes the final day of Premier League action.
Date
Sunday 19th May
Time
1pm
Venue
Wembley Stadium
Capacity
90,000
Where to watch the 2024 League Two play-offs
The League Two play-offs will be available to watch live on Sky Sports, as well as Sky Go if you’re on the move or prefer online.
Should you be watching from the US, which could account for plenty of interest if Wrexham end up in the final, League Two play-off games are available to watch and stream live on ESPN+ and the ESPN network.
How and where to buy League Two play-off final tickets Crawley Town
Tickets are still available in the Crawley end of Wembley Stadium, with the Red Devils being handed an initial allocation of just under 20,000. Tickets were made available on a first-come, first-served basis on Monday (13th May), with remaining prices ranging from £23 to £32.50 at the time of writing.
Crewe Alexandra
Crewe have confirmed their allocation of 38,693 for the play-off final (almost identical to Crawley’s maximum allowed allocation). Season ticket holders, members and Customer Number Holders were given priority, while tickets are still available via the club’s online portal.
How much the League Two play-off final is worth
As of 2020, the financial value of winning the EFL League Two play-off is made up of the additional remuneration clubs receive in League One. So, clubs in League One receive around £675,000 from the Premier League as a “core club” payment compared to £450,000 in League Two. A slight bump up in finances, and, of course, you get the trophy for the cabinet as well.
The 2023 League Two play-off final
The 2022-23 League Two playoffs featured the likes of Stockport County, Carlisle United, Bradford City and Salford City.
It was Salford and Bradford who took command in the first leg as both teams secured 1-0 home wins over both Stockport and Carlisle.
However, it was the two latter teams who managed to overturn the one-goal deficits to book their places at Wembley, as Carlisle won 2-1 after extra time, with Stockport winning 3-1 in 120 minutes.
And the final was just as exciting as fans witnessed a full two hours of action, having finished 1-1 at the end of normal time. But it was Carlisle who were more clinical from the penalty spot as they scored all five of their penalties, running out 5-4 winners and securing promotion to League One.